The Massachusetts Forest and Park Friends Network urges residents to report illegal ATV use. While the network acknowledges off-road/highway vehicle (ORV/OHV) use is a popular sport and i...

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PARK WATCH

The Massachusetts Forest and Park Friends Network urges residents to report illegal ATV use. While the network acknowledges off-road/highway vehicle (ORV/OHV) use is a popular sport and is legal on certain lands. "Irreparable damage to sensitive areas and species is increasing in our forests and parklands," according to the organization.

The Network supports better enforcement and new legislation aimed at stopping illegal riding.

If you observe illegal activity in a forest or park, call 1-866-PK-Watch. State rangers man the phone 24/7. Your calls remain anonymous. Rangers forward information to the appropriate authority.

TAUNTON — Police Chief Edward Walsh struck an ominous note Tuesday night while responding to questions from the City Council about the ongoing problem of illegal ATV use in Weir Village.

“There’s an element down there you don’t want,” he said.

Walsh, who appeared before the Committee on Police and License, was reacting to council member John McCaul’s account of how he and others in the neighborhood are subjected not just to rampant ATV riding on Sundays, but also to the sound of gunshots.

McCaul, who said he’s lived in the Weir for 17 years, recounted taking a walk the previous Sunday on West Water Street to a small cemetery adjacent to land owned by Taunton Municipal Lighting Plant.

He said he came upon shooting range targets, including a human silhouette, pierced with bullets and propped up on sticks.

McCaul described the rutted tracks leading in and out of the area as having been made by all-terrain vehicles.

“I hear gunshots all the time. I guess they take target practice in the cemetery,” he said.

As for ATV drivers, McCaul said the activity level peaks on Sundays and can usually be heard from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.

This was the third time in the past three weeks the topic of illegal ATV use in the Weir came up at a city council meeting.

The week before, a 67-year-old East Water Street resident told the council about ATVs driving up and down his street. That night, he also recounted how, while boating one day on the Taunton River, he heard gunshots and saw the splash of bullets in front of his vessel.

Walsh said police responded to a report of shots being fired in the Weir last week, and came across a father and son taking target practice with guns. He said officers spoke to the pair but didn’t make an arrest.

It’s illegal to ride an ATV in the state without permission of a private land owner or in an area designated for its use. Riding on paved or public roads is prohibited.

Police in Taunton and other municipalities say they have a tough time enforcing that law because of the mobile nature of ATVs and dirt bikes.

Officers, including Walsh, have said they don’t want to risk damaging patrol cars and seek to avoid the possibility of causing injury or death in pursuit of a fleeing ATV.

“They’ll drive up to a police cruiser, give the middle finger and take off,” said Walsh, describing the brazen and defiant attitude of some ATV operators.

Complaints in the Weir have centered on Fifth Street, East Baker Road and Somerset Avenue.

Page 2 of 2 - City councilors say constituents complain about noisy quads driving on streets and along railroad beds in the woods sometimes for hours on end, mostly on weekends.

Walsh said he has a strategy to utilize his department’s handful of ATVs. He also said he has beefed up the police department’s traffic unit, but the chief said he didn’t want to reveal too many details of his plan.

At one point, he blamed local media for following the issue too closely — thereby possibly tipping off perpetrators before they can be caught in the act, which he emphasized is no easy task.

Walsh said when patrol cars do manage to box in an ATV, it is then towed. But he said having to pay the tow fee isn’t always a deterrent to ATV owners.

“For some of these folks, money’s no object,” he said.

Walsh also told the committee some ATV owners in the Weir are keeping their off-road vehicles in privately owned buildings, enabling them to drive straight to a designated spot instead of relying on a pickup truck to drop them off.

He said illegal operation of an ATV is an “arrestable offense.” He also emphasized that the problem is widespread and not unique to Taunton.

“It’s a national issue, (but) no one has really addressed this nationally,” Walsh said.

Council member Deborah Carr reiterated how she’d gotten calls from residents alleging that the owner of Sunny’s Gas on Lawton Avenue has allowed ATVs to gas up, and that he is considering creating space for trucks to park after depositing ATVs.

Walsh agreed to come back to the council in one month with an update. In the meantime, he said, he’ll be keeping a close eye on the situation.